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Published: September 10th 2013
Temple of Zeus
Spot Glyn looking all tiny in front of it!We started off the day with a visit to the Temple of Zeus. This huge building has 15 of it's original 104 columns and took 750 years to complete. Good old Hadrian finished it off. I know all of this because Glyn read it to me from his guide book, because as per usual, there was no information on hand about it.
Next we walked the short distance to the modern Acropolis Museum which has open bits in the floor that looks down into excavations of ancient stuff. There was also a cute tabby kitten opposite it.
We had lunch in the museum cafe which was nice enough and not expensive. There was an outdoor area with a good view to the Acropolis. The cafe had free wifi so we facetimed Lia back home who was incredibly unimpressed as we'd woken her.
The top floor of the museum has statues from the Parthenon and they are all arranged in the same places as they would have been originally. A lot of it depicted naked greeks having fights with rather violent and well endowed centaurs. There was mention of
Entrance of Acropolis Museum
With old stuff under the floor. Lord Elgin "violently looting" statues as one of the many reasons why the Parthenon is a bit battered these days.
Photography seemed to be allowed in the museum as there were no signs saying differently and lots of people were clicking away with cameras, phones and Ipads. But on the next floor down, Glyn and I got told off for taking photos and then I got told to wear my rucksack at the front. We started feeling a bit harassed and after a while got a bit bored of marble statues, so we left.
We popped over the road to the Theatre of Dionysos, hoping to find the Panagia i Spiliotissa chapel that is inside a cave and looked worth visiting in my guide book. But it was closed for repair, probably a blessing as it was a steep climb in the midday sun to get to it.
Out next plan was to take the tube to Victoria to the National Archaeological Museum but when we got to it, it looked a bit dull to be honest, more statues and €7 to get in. Nah!
So we walked towards Strefi Hill through an area called Exarcheia
Relief from Parthenon
Naked Greek being kicked in the nuts by a centaur with rather large nuts. which is the student / anarchist type area. Sure enough we saw anarchy symbols in the graffiti, also f*** the police, anti nazi logos and various greek text. The area looked like it once would have been affluent and swanky, but now the well worn buildings were tatty with peeling paint and daubed with copious amounts of multi-coloured graffiti - although some of it was rather artistic!
We wandered around the area, it was mid afternoon and very quiet with sleeping couples dozing in doorways and the odd cat here and there. We decided to walk a while, the main reason being that the tubes are so big, it's a journey in itself getting from the entrance down the various flights of steps, escalators and tunnels to get to the actual train.You may as well walk if you're only going for a few stops. So we walked down Harilaou Trikoupi to Panespistimiou and the area became gradually smarter as we arrived at the National Library and Athens Academy. Both buildings were rather smart, especially the academy that had statues of learned ancient Greeks outside it, looking deep in thought.
We carried on down to the Parliament building and
Back streets near Strefi Hill
Some of the colourful graffiti, we saw a respectable lady going into this building. decided to risk taking a tram, not being too sure where it went. It did get us fairly close to the First Cemetery of Athens, which is where we wanted to go! There was a bit of walking through fairly smart back streets, with yet more cats.
I've not mentioned the dogs yet. There are lots of stray dogs in Athens too, they don't bug you though, they seem to be sleeping all the time. The first one I saw, I thought it was dead until I saw it later, equally dormant but in another spot.
After a slight detour in a secluded park, we found the cemetery. Now I've already mentioned on previous days the amount of marble all over Athens, but this cemetery, OMG! I have never seen so much marble in abundance, much of it brighter than an American's set of teeth! It really was so decadent and the size of some of these tombs could house a small family. Many were extremely ornate and some had photos of the deceased glazed into plaques.
Obviously I found a gang of cemetery cats, including some tiny kittens. The mangiest cat was the friendliest and followed
me for a while. They were pretty vocal cats too.
Next we walked to the Central Plaka, which is a bit quaint but touristy too. I bought some fridge magnets and a mini replica of the Parthenon for €3.50 - you have to really. I saw a silver ring that I liked but it was €90, I was shocked, something similar would be ten quid in the UK - I didn't buy it.
We stopped for a meal in the centre of the area, we were pulled in by the waiter who claimed it was his mother's cooking and that if we didn't like it, we didn't have to pay. Yeah right!! We didn't want a lot because we were not that hungry and the waiter was trying to get us to order more. So when the bill came, we'd actually been charged €2.50 each for what is normally the complimentary bread! I doubt we will eat in tourist areas again, the prices are way too much.
Walking back to Syntagma station, we noticed a gathering of people that were having some sort of demonstration. There was music of the rallying type and various banners. Now my
Ancient wise old dude
Outside the Academy of Athens guide book said that I should avoid demos at all costs, but my guide book has been wrong a few times, so Glyn and I decided to go look. There must have been a couple of thousand people there, quite a few banners and flags with Greek writing, so we had no idea what they were demonstrating about. The atmosphere wasn't intimidating and they were selling nuts, but we were still trying to be careful about taking photos, whilst still taking photos.
We then took the tube back to Omonoias and the walk back to our hotel is no longer on back streets, now that we know the way!
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Wonderfull
Wonderfull Athens! How long you are going to stay there ? How I wish to be in Athens right now ;) I like this blog, I must visit it oftener. Regards!